By Khalida Sarwari
When nonprofit leader Budd MacKenzie returns to Afghanistan next month, he hopes to tell the villagers in Farza they can begin building their first girls school with funds raised at an event his organization is hosting in unincorporated Diablo next week.
MacKenzie is the founder of Trust in Education, a Lafayette-based nonprofit that provides education, health care, economic and reconstruction aid to villages in Afghanistan.
On March 25, Trust in Education will host a fundraising event with proceeds benefiting the construction of the first school for girls in Farza, a village in the Kabul Province.
MacKenzie said the event is the beginning of a long-term grassroots effort to support education in the Farza community.
“One of the models I’m trying to advocate is that communities in the United States should pick communities in Afghanistan and the rest of the world and work with that community over time,” MacKenzie said.
Zohra Aziz, an Afghan native living in the Bay Area, developed the idea for the project, MacKenzie said. She called MacKenzie in November 2009 to tell him she needed his help building a school for girls in Farza, the hometown she had left at the age of 8.
Aziz realized there was a need for an all-girls school in Farza when she returned in 2007, for the first time in 20 years. During her trip, she met girls who were amazed to learn that she could read, write and hold a job. They pleaded with her to help find a way to build a school for them, so Aziz used her savings to purchase land for a school big enough for more than 300 students. Aziz has set aside an additional $10,000 of her own money for the project.
MacKenzie said members of the village have also contributed funds and volunteered to provide labor for the construction of the 10-room school, but funds are needed for construction materials.
Once the school is built, the Afghan government has agreed to provide teachers and the Afghan Ministry of Education will accredit the courses.
MacKenzie said he hopes that when he makes the first of his biannual trips to Afghanistan on April 9, he can tell the villagers to begin building. During this 10-day trip, MacKenzie will meet with teachers, students and village leaders to listen to their concerns.
On his last trip to Afghanistan in December 2009, MacKenzie helped distribute buckets of rice and clothing to more than 600 displaced families in Kabul identified by the United Nations.
The March 25th fundraiser, sponsored by Americans for Philanthropy, will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by the program at 7 p.m. It will be held at Diablo Country Club, located at 1700 Club House Road.
Said Jawad, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., will give the keynote speech, titled “Afghanistan: From the Inside Looking Out.”
MacKenzie said Jawad’s presence is important because “it is an opportunity for Americans to hear the Afghan government’s perspective on a wide range of issues.”